Near-Infrared-Light-Induced Fast Drug Release Platform: Mesoporous Silica-Coated Gold Nanoframes for Thermochemotherapy

Development of advanced theranostics for personalized medicine is of great interest. Herein, a multifunctional mesoporous silica-based drug delivery carrier has been developed for efficient chemo/photothermal therapy. The unique Au nanoframes@mSiO(2) spheres are elaborately prepared by utilizing Ag@mSiO(2) yolk-shell spheres as the template through spatially confined galvanic replacement method. Compared with the Ag@mSiO(2) yolk-shell spheres, the resultant Au nanoframes@mSiO(2) spheres show a strong and broad near-infrared (NIR) absorbance in the 550-1100 nm region, high surface areas, and good biocompatibility. When irradiated with a NIR laser with a power intensity of 1 W cm(-2) at 808 nm, they can become highly localized heat sources through the photothermal effect. Moreover, the photothermal effect of the Au nanoframes can significantly promote the fast release of doxorubicin. The in vitro studies show obvious synergistic effects combining photothermal therapy and chemotherapy in the Au nanoframes@mSiO(2) spheres against Hela cells. It is believed that the as-obtained multifunctional vehicles provide a promising platform for the combination of hyperthermia and chemotherapy for cancer treatment application.